Friday, May 19, 2006

Part of being an annoying boyfriend requires an ability to know the answer to everything that your partner would ask you in an arrogant tone of voice that gives the impression you're not making it up. As we pull into our first station stop at Truro, BMM asks me exactly where Truro is. I'm on the verge of bluffing an answer to hide my apalling lack of knowledge in eastern Canadian geography when the train comes a convenient halt alongside a map of Nova Scotia, painted as part of Truro's colourful station mural. A useful 'You are here' arrow comes to my rescue.

For the last three weeks I've been travelling on my own. I've always been an independent traveller, and this has been a wonderful voyage to make as a solo traveller, because there are always other friendly passengers around to pass the time of day with. However, today, I'm seeing the train in a different light, travelling with my long term and long distance girlfriend. We've lived in different countries for almost two years now, not entirely out of choice but out of a commitment to lead our own lives until such time as our paths cross more conveniently - that being this autumn, when I return to the UK.

On all the trains of this trip up to now, I've passed the time reading, listening to music, talking to other passengers and just looking out of the window. Surprisingly, it's the last of those activities that occupies the two of us for much of the afternoon, as we enter New Brunswick and race towards Québec. The 'Ocean' takes a very elongated route between Montréal and Halifax, describing a huge arc that remains inside Canada rather than following the more direct route (as plied by the now extinct 'Atlantic' train) through the state of Maine, which juts up into Canada. So we have plenty of time to curl up together and just stare out of the window. We have some newspapers (including a precious copy of the Independent on Sunday brought all the way from London) and books to read, but time after time I find we are both staring out of the window. This is the joy of the train. There are, realistically, very few people who are in such a rush, or who value their time so highly to take a plane on such a journey. Twenty hours might seem like a long time compared to travelling by aeroplane, but then that's how long it takes, and how long it should take. This month long trip has proved to me that I really do enjoy the journey as much as the destination.

There have been individual days or hours when I have been very tired with the train. Approaching Toronto, for instance, or crossing northern California, on the last afternoons of long distance train journeys, I have experienced the frustration of a train journey that took longer than I was mentally prepared for. But overall, as I head towards my thirtieth day 'on the rails', I am still a passionate fan of the train, and would take one tomorrow to another far flung city. It is, as VIA Rail describe with their company motto, the human way to travel.

From this point on, I will be doing everything I can to avoid having to travel by commercial aeroplane ever again. As a student, I can afford the time, and as someone sensitive to the environment, I can happily avoid pumping thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by not taking the train instead of the plane. I have more room, less stress, and more time to think.

Every time I go to the take-out counter on board VIA Rail, or whenever I buy a hot drink from the at seat service, I'm amused to see the design on VIA Rail's polystyrene cups. Notice how, in just a few centimetres, they manage to summarise the scenery that stretches across Canada...

Pacific Ocean and Rocky Mountains...

Rocky Mountains leading into Praries, leading into the forests of the Canadian Shield...

After four brilliant days in Nova Scotia, it's time to get back on a train. Drawing a blank searching for accommodation through my regular host network The Hospitality Club, I eventually found two extremely kind and hospitable hosts through Couch Surfing. So we enjoyed a wonderful week staying with Bruce and Lindsey in the north end of Halifax - thank you both for all your advice and hospitality. We had a great trip and it was your hospitality that saved our time in Halifax from being completely rained out :-)

Although we had managed to get two sunny days to explore the southern half of Nova Scotia by car, when we head to the railway station on Friday afternoon, it's raining hard. Halifax has a grand railway station, close to downtown and in the same complex as the intercity bus station. We arrive at 12.00, having already checked in our luggage earlier that morning. The station hall is busy with passengers for the today's only departure. A line has formed for coach class passengers, which we join for the long walk down to the other end of the train. Since it's arrival yesterday, the Montréal train has been turned, so that the elegant stainless steel Park car is closest to the station building.

Boarding begins at about 12.10, and we walk along the length of the train to the three coach cars that are at the head of the train. Boarding from a low level platform (level with the tracks) it's interesting to see the ingenious folding steps that were fitted to these trains when they were adapted for use in Canada. Mounted underneath the passenger doors, these fixed step units fold out in one piece to allow passengers to climb into the carriage. It's cheaper than re-building every platform in the country, I guess, although I can't quite work out how wheelchair passengers board...

This time I'm with BMM, I'm more optimistic about being able to get some sleep in one of the paired seats, rather than the uncomfortable single seats across the aisle. The only downside is that because the whole train has been turned, I'm now sitting on the same side that I did coming from Montréal. Visibility across the car is hampered by the high position of the seats. Still, it's good to see that the arm rest lifts between our seats, and I expect that we will be able to curl up together a little more comfortably than I did on my own on Sunday night.

By the time our train starts moving just after half past twelve the rain has, of course, stopped. I shall have to come back soon...

How to read this blog

This blog is archived day by day (see below). Clicking on a day shows you all the posts from that day, but they appear in anti-chronological (backwards) order. So on days with more than one post (the number of posts is in brackets next to the link) you'll need to scroll down to the bottom of the page and read up.

The trip started on 21 April 2006 and finished on 20 May. Posts before 21 April detail the trip's preparations.